Syrian government shelling killed at least 16 people in a rebel-held area of the northern city of Aleppo, activists said, and at least one man was killed Friday inside Lebanon in cross-border fire from Syria, according to a security official.

The attacks came as Syrian negotiators were wrapping up a week of peace talks in Geneva, the first round of what is expected to be prolonged

negotiations stretching several weeks or even months trying to find a solution to the devastating civil war.

The conflict, which began as largely peaceful protests against the rule of President Bashar Assad, shifted into an armed insurgency and became a full-blown civil war that has killed more than 130,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes, including over 2 million who have mostly settled in neighboring countries. Syria's economy, meanwhile, lies in ruins as do many of the nation's cities, towns and villages. (AP)